Wheel hub



E. E. EINFELDT.

WHEEL HUB. Y

APPLICAT LED APR- 15, 19-19- 1,409,161 Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

E :11 1 3 :l x I x r BY IE fi'ORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST E. EINFELDT, O'F DAVENPORT, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO G. WATSON FRENCH,

NATHANIEL FRENCH, JOSEPH L. HECI-IT, AND W. H. STACKHOUSE, ALL OF DAVENPORT, IOWA, COMPOSING THE FIR-M OF FRENCH & HECHT, OF DAVEN- ronr, IOWA.

WHEEL HUB.

Application filed April 15, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST E. EINFELDT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Davenport, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wheel Hubs, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying draw in lhis invention relates to the manufacture of tubular metal wheel hubs of the form in which a circumferential groove or spoke chamber, is provided to receive the heads on the inner ends of the spokes by which the latter are riveted to the hub, the object of the invention being to provide a hub of great strength and durability to withstand the severe strains imposed upon it in the use of the wheel, and which hub may be manufactured from a flat plate or blank at comparatively small expense. it-h these ends in view, my invention consists in the improved form and arrangement of parts of the hub, which will be fully described in the specification to follow, and the novel features of which will be set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of the blank from which my improved hub is formed.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the completed hub produced by my method, the spokes being shown as riveted thereto.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the same, with parts broken away.

Fig. 4 is an edge view of the blank of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings:

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated my invention embodied in a hub havingtwo circumferential spoke chambers to receive the heads on the inner ends of two rows or ranks of spokes, but it will be manifest that the invention is not limited to a wheel hub of this form, but it is applicable as well to a hub formed with but a single circumferential chamber to receive a single row or rank of spokes.

In carrying my invention into effect, in connection with a hub of the form illustrated, I provide a flat metal plate or blank 1 having therein two straight parallel grooves 2 formed by bending the metal of the blank outwardly in two parallel. lines or Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

Serial No. 290,276.

areas, and thereby producing 011 the opposite side of the blank, two ribs or protuberances 3 corresponding in location to the grooves. l he blank thus formed is next, by suitable means of instrumentalities, bent or coiled upon itself into cylindrical form, thereby producing a number of convolutions oi layers arranged one within the other, there being in the present instance two convolutions, an inner one 4 and the outer surroundone 5 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, which convolutions have circumferentially extending inner grooves and corresponding circumferentially extending outer protuberances. In the coiling or bending operation, these grooves and protuberances are caused to register with each other in the successive convolutions, the protuberance on the inner coil seating in the inner groove on the surrounding nest outer convolution. As a result of this mode of procedure, a cylindrical hub structure is produced having on its interior circumferential grooves or spoke chambers, which in the completed wheel will receive the heads 7 on the inner end of the spokes 8, these spoke chambers, due to the several layers or convolutions of the material, being reinforced and strengthened so that they will be well adapted to resist the severe strains placed upon them in the use of the wheel in practlce.

The several coils or convolutions of material may be connected together by suitable means to prevent them from unwinding to preserve the cylindrical form of the structure. This may be effected, for instance, by spot-welding the contiguous surfaces of the convolutions, or dependence may be placed on the connection of the spokes thereto, which spokes, as shown, are extended at their inner ends through registering openings in the convolutions, and are riveted to the same by the inner heads 7 before alluded to, and outer shoulders 9, which latter bear against the outer side of the outer convolution.

The hub structure formed as above set forth, being made from sheet or plate metal. is economical to manufacture, and by reason of the several layers of material surrounding each other, and the interfitting of the grooves and protuberances, a structure of great strength and resisting properties is produced.

It Will be obvious that in forming a hub to accommodate but a single row of spokes, the procedure would be the same as that set forth above, except that instead of the blank being formed with two grooves and corresponding protuberances, it would have but a single groove. Instead of coiling the previously grooved blank, as above described, the grooves may be formed at the same time that the blank is coiled.

Having thus described my invention, its construction and mode of operation, what I claim and desire by LettersPatent of the United States is as follows:

1,. A Wheel hub consisting oi? a plurality of convolutions of metal plate, one Within the other, and each convolution formed in one side With a circumferential groove and on its other side with a corresponding circumferential protuberance, the protuberance on an inner convolution being seated in the groove in the next outer convolution to produce a circumferential reinforced spoke chamber on the interior of the hub to receive the heads on the spokes.

2. A. Wheel hub consisting of a plurality of metal convolutions arranged one Within the other and each convolution being provided on its inner side with a cavity and on its outer side with a corresponding protuberance, a protuberance on an inner convolution being seated in the cavity in the next outer convolution to produce a reenforced'spoke chamber on'the interior of the hub, and said convoiutions being fastened together to preserve the tubular form of the hub.

In testimony whereof I have ailixed my signature hereto.-

ERNEST E. EINFELDT. 

